2006-03-06 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

COUNCIL CHAMBER – March 6, 2006 Council met in special session on this date with the following members present: Dr. Brown, Mr. Caravati, Ms. Hamilton, Mr. Lynch, Mr. Schilling. ANNOUNCEMENTS Mr. Caravati said he will bring up CityLink during Other Business. Mr. Lynch said updates to the Meadowcreek Parkway Interchange projects are posted on the website. Dr. Brown reminded citizens that Councilors have office hours in City Hall every Wednesday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. PUBLIC Ms. Miriam Hausner, a substitute teacher, said she has a master’s degree, and requested that a progressive and tiered salary scale be implemented for substitute teachers and that pay be increased. Ms. Ann Carter, 715 Orangedale Avenue, thanked Council for supporting the Jefferson School project. She said the School has been placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. She said we will now turn our attention to getting the African- American Cultural Center in place. th Ms. Leslie Brown, 316 8 Street, N.W., thanked Council for supporting the Jefferson School project. She said she is former co-chair of the Jefferson School Task Force and a former Jefferson School student and teacher. She said she is looking forward to continuing the progress on Jefferson School. Mr. Karl Ackerman, 1611 E. Market Street, said there will be one more employee in the Schools’ central office as the number of teachers shrinks. He said the high school dance program and Walker swimming programs are not in the budget and safety programs have not been implemented. He said there is nothing new in the School budget that addresses underachieving students. He said he thinks the budget is bad and Council should send it back and protect what is great about our schools. Ms. Lisa Woolfork, 142 Stribling Avenue, parent of a Johnson Elementary School student, said that Johnson is proposed to lose two teachers and 1.5 instructional assistants. She questioned how this will address the achievement gap. She said Johnson is an achieving school now. She said there is also a privilege gap in the schools. Mr. Jim Moore, 1213 Hazel Street, reminded Council and staff of the expectations about CityLink and the benefits promised, such as the ability of citizens to monitor service requests. He said he hopes Council will join in expecting premium quality requests for the most expensive per capita system in the country. Mr. John Pfaltz, 1503 Rugby Avenue, said it is unfortunate that the large item pickup is proposed to be eliminated in the budget. He said this will not create much of a savings unless employees are terminated. He said the process for the pickup is a monstrosity and that is why people are not using it. He said it would be best to schedule the service on-line and put the charge on utilities bills. He said the cap of 5,000 who will have access to CityLink may prohibit this. He said there is nothing in the budget attributing savings to CityLink. Ms. Beth Kariel, 102 Tripper Court, said she has two children at Charlottesville High School. She said the problem is not what we have done in the last two years, but what we have failed to do. She said curriculum is a huge issue, safety in schools needs to be talked about, and there should be a universal pre-school education. She asked Council to look closely at the School budget and see if we are a progressive City.